"Grow With Google" Comes to Reno

Google came to town with a $100,000 gift. Job seekers, business owners and entrepreneurs were at today's one and only "Grow With Google" event.

Monday, August 6th 2018, 1:51 pm PDT by John Potter

Updated:

Monday, August 6th 2018, 2:13 pm PDT

They filled the Nevada Museum of Art: Google presenters showing Google tools for online marketing and job search strategies. On the other side of the booths, job seekers, business owners and entrepreneurs were checking out free workshops, coaching sessions and hands-on demonstrations. Google, the company whose name has become a verb meaning "to search," is helping Reno-area workers with their job searches. As Lisa Cutshall, Google’s director of school engagement told us, "My booth, Applied Digital Skills, offers a free training curriculum for applying all of those digital skills you need for the workplace."

Reno may seem small compared to a monster like Google, but Google thinks we're a pretty big deal. Jacquelline Fuller, president of Google.org told us, "We're seeing the highest startup density in the country. We're seeing so much economic growth and hope and potential and momentum." Nearby, Denise Castle of Join Inc. agreed: "Because we are hot on the map for growth, right?"

Google is backing their faith in Reno with a $100,000 donation they announced at the event…money going to teach locals, especially those who don't have the money, the digital skills to win higher-demand, high paying jobs. Fuller said, "The way that we can help is with by providing this online skills training through 'Grow with Google'."

"Grow With Google" means growing careers. Sure, it helps Google grow too, getting folks to use them more. But $100,000 goes a long way at Join Inc., a local occupational training agency. Fuller told me, "We're investing in their already very successful programs, helping them to do even more digital skills training." Castle says their agency, “removes the financial barrier for individuals to go back to school or start school."

Castle says they also help older workers who need new, different skills, "Because all of our younger generation just comes out knowing it, but so many of us adults transitioning need a brush up on what is the world of digital these days."

And it's not just Reno. Google is going around the country, but they say they won't forget us here. And as we learned at one booth, the free tools are available to everyone. Writing your resume? Their Applied Digital Skills page will teach you their Google docs system. Cutshall says, “By the time you're done you're going to have a resume created that's going to be beautiful. Something you can send out and actually use."

Here’s a link to Google’s free curriculum to learn those skills and create your own resume: